Colonel Sean Welch, USMC (ret.) is a nonresident senior fellow in the Forward Defense program of the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security. In this role, he is a co-author on the ReForge Commission, for which he focuses on the defense industry’s capability to support credible deterrence. He also serves as the vice president of defense strategy & growth at Tagup, an AI-enabled logistics startup, and is a principal at Pallas Advisors.
Welch previously served as director of concepts and plans within the Marine Corps Warfighting Lab in Quantico, Virginia. In this role, he led marines and sailors at home in training and forward in conflict, generated and executed new and nonstandard methods of operations, and represented US uniformed services among US legislative branch representatives, Wall Street executives, Ivy League institutions, and think tanks. He also educated the next generation of joint and multinational officers and led public-private innovation efforts.
He is a graduate of the Dwight D. Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy, the recipient of the 2007 Marine Corps Officer Logistician of the Year Award, the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute’s 2009 Angels in Adoption Award, and the 2015 Defense Logistics Award.